Thug jailed for six years after stabbing a man in Southampton street and throwing tiles at police from a rooftop in tense stand-off

Samuel Woodford, 31, pleaded guilty to wounding with intent, having an article with a blade or point, assault on an emergency worker, and four counts of damaging property.

Shortly before 10am on July 6 this year, a 40-year-old man, was riding his bike in London Road, Southampton, when he encountered Woodford and an altercation ensued between the two.

During this encounter, Woodford pulled a weapon out of his pocket and stabbed his victim on his upper arm, upper leg and in his stomach before fleeing on the victim's bike.

The victim stumbled into a nearby business and asked staff for help, who then called the police.

Officers attended within minutes and found the man further down the street outside a convenience store, where he was taken to hospital and received emergency surgery.

During the day, officers carried out several arrest attempts for Woodford and he was found at an address in Parsonage Road, Southampton, that evening.

Woodford then climbed onto the roof of the property and refused to come down while throwing roof tiles.

These damaged two nearby cars and one tile hit an officer on the arm, resulting in him going to A&E for treatment.

The chimney stack was also pushed off by Woodford.

After several hours of tense negotiation, Woodford came down from the roof and was arrested at 10.30pm.

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The weapon used to stab the man was never found.

The judge at Southampton Crown Court described Woodford, whose address was given as HMP Winchester, as a 'dangerous' individual who could 'easily have killed' the victim, who 'could have bled out on the street'.

He added that the sentence reflected the fact Woodford represented 'a significant risk of serious harm to the public'.

Officer in the case, PC Eloise Prowting from Western Investigations, said: ‘Woodford's actions that day could have quite easily ended in tragedy and how he behaved before his arrest was completely unacceptable, putting both the public and my colleagues in further danger.

‘I hope this sentence shows that we will not tolerate serious violence in our city and will do all in our power to ensure offenders are brought to justice.’